All posts filed under: Family

The people and places on Main Street

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There are few things I like better than walking along a great Main Street. For the past two days, I’ve been lucky enough to walk around four terrific Main Streets:  Middletown, Connecticut; Amherst and Northampton, Massachusetts; and tiny Red Hook, NY. You can pick up life lessons on Main Street – like the bumper sticker I saw on a car parked along Northampton’s Main Street this morning:  Just say NO to Negativity. You can also meet very interesting people.  While taking photos around Northampton, I was approached by a resident of the streets of the city.  He must have seen my inner preservationist (sometimes people who look at the world a little differently have great powers of observation), because he told me he liked to work for the “hysterical society.”  He then proceeded to point out the historical courthouse (where Calvin Coolidge first practiced law) – a very nice 1885 building seen in the photo above. My new friend then pointed in the opposite direction and identified the Northampton City Hall.  “See those turrets?” he …

Two Years and There’s Still More to Come

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I began writing More to Come… two years ago as a way to keep friends and loved ones updated during a family trip out west.  As I wrote I found I enjoyed capturing not only experiences from travels, but also observations about books I was reading, music I was hearing, or simply life.  The feedback was also positive (probably helped by my admonition in the “About” section that if you didn’t like what I was writing you should “get your own blog”). Two years later I find myself on another vacation with the family and More to Come… has over 300 posts to date.  So look forward to some more vacation reports.  I should warn you that it is that type of vacation that hits families with teenagers:  the college visits.  We’re in the northeast for this trip, and while I won’t bore you (or embarrass my kids) with litanies of schools visited and reactions to the tours, I will post a few stories and photos  along the way of great architecture and interesting people …

My mama done told me – Part II

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My cousin Marcia wrote after reading my original post entitled My mama done told me to pass along some of her favorite sayings of our Grandmother — Mary Dixie Brown. You can only afford what you pay for. You have to suffer to be beautiful. And the Sir Walter Scott quote, “Oh, what tangled webs we weave, when we practice to deceive.” Marcia also reminded me that Grandmother liked to use the Uncle Remus quote when she first saw you in the morning: How’s your copperosity sagaciating? Grandmother loved words and the sound of words. My love of her and my father is the main reason we used her maiden name “Bearden” for Andrew’s middle name, a name he shares with his Grandfather. More to come…DJB Image: My grandmother and grandfather: Mary Dixie Bearden Brown and George Alma Brown

A full life

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My father-in-law, Dr. Andrew Colando, passed away last evening.  All members of his immediate family were with him on the day he died, and he went peacefully after a short illness. His obituary details the key milestones of his life:  a proud graduate of the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine; a founding board member of the American Association of Equine Practitioners; a 71-year association with the horse racing business as veterinarian, breeder, trainer, and owner.  He began racing trotters at Yonkers Raceway on the weekends while still in high school and trained Uncle Miltie among other horses in his father’s stable before beginning his equine veterinary practice. I first met Dr. Colando after he retired from his practice and had returned to the training he loved with his own stable of horses.  Being the first in-law in a New Jersey Italian-Irish family was full of new experiences for a Southern-bred fellow.   I didn’t have the years of experience with family banter that made the dinner table discussions so exciting.  The closest I’d been …